The positioning and deployment of therapeutic laden implants at a target site inside the body of a patient is an often repeated medical procedure. The benefits and purposes of delivering and placing implants and therapeutics at a target site in the body of a patient are innumerable and can include enlarging constricted lumens, reinforcing recently re-enlarged lumens, replacing ruptured vessels, and treating designated regions, systems, and areas with therapeutic.
The vessels, lumens, and other target sites, which can be treated by implants alone or implants combined with therapeutics, may be located throughout the body and can include the coronary vasculature, the esophagus, the trachea, the colon, the biliary tract, the urinary tract, the prostate, the brain, and the various other organs. Examples of implants that have been used in these or other applications include vena cava filters, stents, stent-grafts, vascular grafts, and intraluminal paving systems.
Implants used in these and other procedures may have the therapeutic positioned on their outside surface, their inside surface, and imbedded or otherwise carried by or within the material that comprises the implants. Moreover, these implants may also have been coated with a polymer or other material. The present invention is directed to new and inventive methods, systems, and apparatus for coating or otherwise interfacing medical implants, such as expandable stents, with therapeutics, coatings or both.